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Saturday, August 29, 2009

This last Tuesday I added one more thing to an already overloaded plate, a composition class from a nearby community college. This has been something I have wanted (and needed) to do for a long time. It will have a few drawbacks. One is that it is always on Tuesday nights and I have board meetings and Toastmaster Club meetings that night twice a month. I have to be realistic about what is the most important thing. One other thing that makes it difficult is that the second week of class, I will to be out of town for a workshop for the Smithsonian exhibit we are hosting next March. It is really going to be interesting to see how I can juggle all of this. I am going to see if the board will allow a switch in days or even have the meetings earlier so I won't be late for class on the night of board meetings. Is there such a thing as a smooth transition in life when one wants to do something special?

Last night, I finished the last of the Twilight series. What can I say, Stephanie Meyer had me hooked from the beginning of the first book and for the next 3500 pages, I kept turning and turning and turning. Last night we had a Relief Society picnic at the city park in Warroad. I had 150 pages left in the lastbook, it was so tempting to stay home and read. I had woke up at 5:30 am, picked up the book, and could hardly put it down all day. Well the the RS picnic took precedence. It was great, the food was tops, you men in our Elders Quorum are great cooks! The hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, the watermelon, and the cheese cake Mike made were so yummy! It was way too cold though, I had to go get the blanket from the car even though I had a sweatshirt on. I was frozen, and by 8:15, I threw the blanket in the backseat of the car, turned on the car and flipped the heat on. Oh, that felt so glorious when it finally warmed up. The time spent with my friends was worth the deep freeze though. Amazingly with only 150 pages left in the book, I was so tired when I got home, I headed straight to bed, turned out the lights and slept from 10 pm to 8:15 am. First thing this am, I went straight for the book and finished in between scrubbing floors and cleaning. By 12, the last satisfying page was read. It may be about vampires and werewolves, but each book are excellent and very enjoyabe. Now, what will Meyer write next? I do need to stop reading until I am done with the class though. I need to prioritize!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

After mowing the lawn this afternoon, I decided to go visit a neighbor and then pick up the mail. We had an enjoyable hour together before I decided to head home to make some potato salad. I picked up the mail and had the radio on listening to a commentary on MPR so didn't rush into the house. I happened to look up and my hubby was standing in the patio door waving his arms trying to get my attention. I rolled down the window; he shouted there were two large bald eagles feeding on a woodchuck (he had shot it a couple of days earlier) between our shop and garage. I looked over just as one headed skyward and the other continued to feast. All I could think was camera, what a time not to have a camera. The second eagle tried in vain to pick up the woodchuck but it must have been too heavy. He then flew off too. I noticed one of them continued to come back and check out the yard but after two circles, it decided not to return. I headed for the house and picked up the camera and returned to the car where I continued to keep watch but they didn't return. Finally, I gave up and went and drove the dry lawn mower into the shop and headed back inside. It was such a spectacular thing to see in our yard!

Hubby told me tonight that he had seen a black bear walking across our field today and it went into the neighbor's woods about a mile east. I love to walk to the church in the evening; I think I will be a little more cautious walking for this fall.

I feel for the wild animals this year. We had such a cold late spring, the lilacs didn't bloom until almost the 15th of June; and many of us didn't get our crops in. I'm sure there is a lack of food in the woods. I don't know what the blueberries are like this year as I have been buying them all summer. Enough about the bears & eagles.

Why would one want to fight mosquitoes when blueberries from Maine, Michigan, California, and Canada as so plentiful and delicious? I really appreciate the farmers in these states and Canada for diversifying and making it possible for us to purchase blueberries so much these past three summers. They have become a real staple in the Haugen home, we go through at least a pint a day, just nibbling.

As a survey, I would like to know how many of you are purchasing more blueberries than you have in the past? Just go to the comment section and let me know.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Sometimes I get into a baking mood. Last Friday was the beginning, starting out with chocolate chip cookies. Saturday I wanted to make some blueberry muffins to go with out usual Saturday morning omelet. I usually don't make muffins from scratch, I think the package mixes are hard to beat, Saturday was no different but it was different in that I had no muffin package mixes. I pulled out a cookbook and found a recipe using cake mix and started in. With a little doctoring up, they were delicious and made a dozen large muffins. So here goes:

Blueberry MuffinsPreheat over to 350Bake about 20 minutes, watch closely

Mix dry ingredients together, stirring to remove lumps and blend. Mix the liquids all together and pour into the cake mixture and stir until all it moistened and a little lumpy. Fold in nuts and blueberry. Spray two six cup muffin tins and put about 1/2 cup in each cup.Bake about 20 minutes, checking often after 15 minutes. This was the first time I have made this recipe and can't remember exactly how long I baked them.They were delicious! I think this recipe could be varied for any type of cake mix, a yellow or lemon cake mix would be good, and a variety of ingredients such as, dates, cranberries, raisins, carrots, and nuts could be added.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

My Roxann and I headed for a day in "the city", meaning Winnipeg. Our goal was to see Julie & Julia, eat lunch out, go to a bulk food store and a grocery store, and do some shopping.

The traffic was light all the way although we did put up with a few trucks holding us up along the way. First place we headed was to the shops on Waverly. We walked out empty handed at Liz Claiborne and a couple of other stores but we found bargains and things that fit and looked good at Reitmans and some jewelry at another store. Summer things tended to be picked over but the fall items were on all on sale.

We were pretty hungry after that so ate at Mixin's. Roxann had a grilled chicken, vegetables and rice while I had my favorite, Chicken Souvlaki with a Greek salad. Dessert was good too, ice cream for Roxann and Oreo cheese cake for me.

After fiddling with the credit card ticket dispenser at the theater, we finally go the hang of how to use it, got the tickets, popcorn and water and headed for the movie. My friend, Donna had seen it on Saturday and when asked to rate between 1 - 10 she gave Julie & Julia an 11! We gave it a 10, should be an academy award winner for MerylStreep, she was an excellent choice for Julia Child. The back and forth parts of movie between Julie and her husband, Eric and Julia and Paul added the perfect dimension to the movie. It was just long enough with no slow places where a person was like waiting for what would happen next. The movie was a pared down version of the book of course, but justice was done. It is a must see!

After the movie we headed out the east door into the mall and did a little more shopping before heading to Chapters to check out The Art of French Cooking. Can you believe they were out? We decided we could probably purchase it online cheaper any way. We stopped at Starbucks in Chapters and had a snack before heading for the car and the trip home. We decided to forgo going to the grocery store or bulk food store, we felt sated already! Now we are ready for a good relaxing sleep

Sunday, August 9, 2009

We had some very good talks on daily personal scripture study at church today. We all know we must eat to live. One of the talks mentioned that studying the scriptures is like a garden. Have you ever seen a clean garden, free of weeds, the rows stretching out with great organization? You know exactly where to find the tomatoes, potatoes, peas, etc., don't you? What about a garden overgrown with weeds? One year I remember having a garden that I just did not have the time to take care of. That was when I realized that I had to prioritize what was the most important thing to be doing. It was not a garden; it was weed infested, chaotic, and a mess! Nothing grew well and well, it was hard to even locate anything but the corn!

Can we do the same with our scripture studying? We know we must study and learn to stay close to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and to receive the guidance we need from the Holy Spirit. We also know that there are ways to do this, the most important ways are through prayer, scripture study, and fasting. Prayer can be a with us at all times, we can have a secret prayer in our hearts by thinking of the normal daily things we need guidance with, the friend or neighbor who is sick or in need, our families, who are always close to our hearts, our daily work and how we approach it, and the many other things that one can think of. Without prayer, my day would exclude the presence of the Holy Spirit and His guidance. Could I go without that each day? I don't think so!

Ad with prayer, so it is with daily scripture study. Today there are so many ways one can study the scriptures. On your way to work you can listen to them on your i Pod or via a CD or cassette. At night you can do the same as you go to sleep. These ideas are easy ways to study the scriptures. They don't take any more time than turning on a machine and tuning it.

One of the talks pointed out that we need to study our scriptures in a more organized manner, not just read them. We need to find a quiet time when we have more than 5 or 10 minutes a day to spend studying them.

The talk quoted several points for good scripture study from Elder L. Lionel Kendrick's 1993 Ensign conference talk which I quote:

"It is not enough to read the scriptures. Random reading results in reduced retention. We must search for specifics. We must seek for truth and increased understanding of its application in our lives.

"If we are to be effective in our study of the scriptures, we must prepare for it to be a special spiritual experience. The following suggestions may be helpful.

"1. Schedule

"Schedule a time to search the scriptures daily. Scripture study is such an essential part of our spiritual development that we must take time and make it a priority in our daily schedule. Our spirits should never be deprived of the much-needed spiritual nourishment which comes from scripture study. Without this spiritual food our spirits become starved and weakened to temptation.

"President Kimball taught the principle that “no father, no son, no mother, no daughter should get so busy that he or she does not have time to study the scriptures and the words of modern prophets.” (Ensign, May 1976, p. 47.)

"2. Pray

"We should begin and end each study session with prayer. We must invite the Spirit to teach us. Nephi taught that: “the mysteries of God shall be unfolded … by the power of the Holy Ghost.” (1 Ne. 10:19.)

"3. Search

"To search is to seek, to explore, to examine carefully. As we study we should do so with purpose, searching for specifics and an expansion of our vision of eternal truth. We must search for principles, doctrines, answers to questions, and solutions to problems. We should look for doctrinal relationships and for possible hidden meanings of that which has been recorded.

"4. Ponder

"To ponder is to meditate, to think, to feast, and to treasure. It is more than a mental method, it is a spiritual striving to obtain and to understand truth. We should follow the process taught by the Savior to the Nephites as he taught them sacred principles. He then instructed them to “Go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow.” (3 Ne. 17:3.)

"We should ponder the meanings of the things we learn from our search of the scriptures. The Apostle Paul instructed the Philippian Saints to “think on these things.” (Philip. 4:8.) To think involves forming mental images in the mind and focusing intently upon that which has been discovered. Nephi counseled to “feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” (2 Ne. 32:3.) To feast is to consume, to digest, to absorb.

"As we ponder, we should follow the counsel of the Savior when he said, “Treasure up in your minds continually the words of life.” (D&C 84:85). This implies that we should repeat in our minds the principles we have learned and draw upon them in each of our decisions.

"5. Relate

"Nephi has counseled to “liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning.” (1 Ne. 19:23.) We must read as if the Lord were speaking directly to us in a personal manner.

"6. Apply

"President Marion G. Romney counseled: “Learning the gospel from the written word … is not enough. It must also be lived. … One cannot fully learn the gospel without living it.” (Ensign, Sept. 1980, p. 4.) As we learn a principle, we must make a real effort to apply and to live it in our life."

Elder Kendrick ended his talk with this conclusion:"The scriptures are priceless possessions. If we search the scriptures, seeking for the plain and precious principles, the Lord will reveal his will unto us and we will be richly blessed. If we research the revelations and respond correctly to them, we will return home safely to Heavenly Father. To this I so testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."(Ensign, May 1993)

Can I not find some time to study, really study my scriptures as the Lord would have me? Would I not truly benefit from this study time? Think of how we would grow in the gospel if we put our Prophet and Apostles testimonies on scripture study to the test.

Can I challenge you, my readers to find time to "meet me in your favorite chair for scripture study daily"? I know I need to prioritize my scripture study time today, not tomorrow. My scripture study garden needs some real weeding!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

It has been 17 months since my right total hip replacement in March 2009 and 13 months since my left total knee replacement in July 2008. Would I do it again? In a minute! My only regret is that I waited so long.

After not being able to do much exercising for so long, like 3 years due to the hip pain, I relish the idea of doing an sort of exercise. I would think that anyone who has had a replacement has gone through physical therapy. The exercises received there can be included in life time maintenance of the replacement. It was recommended by my orthopedic specialist that I cross train, so that means alternating between walking, biking and going to a gym. Most towns now have physical therapy places that offer low cost physical fitness centers. Many health insurance companies will cover the cost of going to a center up to a certain cost each month. The key is to look at what is low impact on the knee. I like an elliptical machine when I go to the gym. It is low impact and gives one an excellent cardiovascular workout. It also works the gluts and then strengthens my hip muscles. I also find that if I don’t exercise, my knee gets stiff so it is telling me – do some exercise with me. The rest of my body needs the exercise too.

A knee replacement should last at least 10 -12 years. My mother had a total hip rreplacement and she did not have to have it replaced the rest of her life, she was 73 when she had it and 89 when she passed away.

What has been the greatest challenge? Range of motion in my knee. I do find even know that I have the ability to increase my range of motion doing various exercises. Moving the seat of my stationary bike down by increments is one of the ways I do it. Also using the steps. I stand backwards to the step with the toe of my foot on the stair and push myself down so the knee gets bent more. That is the most effective exercise.

So if you are in need of hip or knee replacement, don't wait. Listen to your OS and then your physical therapist, you won't regret it!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Today was to be my day off, but the weather was crappy enough that I went into town around noon and worked until 4. Was sure nice to sleep in though. I didn't wake up until 7:18 and then read for about 45 minutes and fell back to sleep to not awake until 9:15 am. It was wonderful and something I never do. I am usually an early bird and waking up at 5:30 is not unusual.

Sometimes at work, we are plagued by old accession numbers. We have been have some youth workers do an inventory and they frequently find items with old catalog numbers. These items seemed to have no direct corresponding number to our museum cataloging system, which is PastPerfect. Today we had a few numbers like that so I went on a search to find the book that may have those artifacts cataloged and I found it! No more stumbling in the dark wondering who, where, what and when they became part of the collection.

The nice thing was that we noticed that the last number was the number of the year the item were received so we can now go forward and give them a number like the ones we are presently using, which follows recommended cataloging criteria. This means that we use the year first, give a number to the donor, and each artifact is numbered following a 1,2,3, pattern. An example of this is the following. Say you gave us a a donation in 2009 and were the 10th person to do so. We skip the first three numbers so that we can use those numbers for unknown, anonymous, and staff donated items. An example would then be 2009.10.1 for the first item you gave us. If we ever needed to clarify the object, manuscript, etc, we can then go to database in PastPerfect and find the item and we would know who donated it and what year. Prior to 2003 we used a different system where we did consecutive numbering from 1 to 12000 plus. The pattern we use now makes so much more sense and is so much easier to use when cataloging. We use the universal nomenclature to identify an object. We love the PastPerfect program, the new program has wonderful amenities. The search program is very easy to use and we have started adding photos to the photo area so when we go through them we are able to know instantly what they look like. There is lots to do but we are getting to the point where we will be able to have all photos attached to the file.

At our local supermarkets, blueberries have been in abundance for the last two years. Each summer I purchase extra cartons and freeze some. A large peanut butter jar is a wonderful way to do this. They stay dry and don't get the frost in the jar very easily and they freeze well. In the evening when we want some ice cream or frozen yogurt I will add a few of the blueberries to the treat. They are just as good frozen as fresh!

Today I decided to make a blueberry-raspberry pie. I improvised a recipe from Betty's Pies.

Blueberry-Raspberry Pie

Preheat oven to 375 for 50 minutes

Two ready made pie crusts (leave on counter for about 1/2 hour prior to using.) Roll one crust about 2 inches larger than pie pan and place in pie pan.

Pie filling
3 containers of blueberries, two containers of raspberries. Place in large bowl and mix together.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Today hubby started cutting CRP acres, for those not familiar with this acronym, it means Conservation Reserve Program. For a certain amount of rent, the land is set aside and not seeded to a profitable crop but to a native grass. The farmer is responsible for keeping weeds at bay. Our CRP is used in years when it has been too wet or too dry by farmer who raise cattle or have dairy cows as a supplement to their feed. We had a request from a farmer for just this purpose a week ago.

We are not allowed to cut the fields until after August 1, unless there are a lot of weeds like Canadian thistle. This allows the birds that nest on the land to do so with disruption. We see many more prairie chickens and other birds of this type in our area since land has been put in CRP. Just yesterday I saw two little prairie chickens that were unable to fly yet run out of one of our fields and cross the road.

Ardmore will spend the next few weeks cutting CRP and picking rocks. For the first time in many years, we are not going to have fall seed our summer fallow ground. We have more that usual this year due to the wet and cold spring. We were only able to put in 75 acres out of 420. We are not big farmers as you can see. We own about 900 acres, which means we are very small farmers, but this is enough for one person to farm.

Five things I am thankful for today: Finding my head set under the seat of my car (I had been looking for it for two weeks and didn't think to look under the seat until I let the Holy Spirit guide me), grown grandchildren, being able to walk to the Roseau River, music of all sorts, and the museum staff.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Today is the first day of the work week at the museum. We use to have Monday's off and worked Saturday, but now work Monday through Friday. There is a lot to do this week.

I have been trying get in touch with the tech guy at the school off and on for a month. Hopefully I can do that this morning.

One of my favorite summer recipes is such an easy one:Take two nectarines and slice them, add one cup of blueberries and 1 cup of orange juice. Let sit over night. The crunch of the blueberries when you bite into them, the smooth nectarines and the orange juice make a wonderful contrast. Delish!

Brian bought Julie & Julia by Julie Powell for me. I started reading it about four days ago. It has some language that I am not pleased with then there is the story. I am interested if any of my friends have read it and what was their opinion. Please share what you think.

I did get in touch with Mike this morning. He gave me some splendid suggestions. I contacted a couple of people this am and will check into more tomorrow. I am hopeful we will be able to upgrade our computers to the school's cast offs now that they have purchased new ones. We are looking for computers for the research center and the registration room.For what these will be used for, the school's older computers will work just fine. I also need to complete the grant for the laptop for the Smart Board.

Hubby was picking rocks with the rock picker today and was still in the field this evening. I took a photo of the new building. It is just a plain metal machine shed and is functional, nothing special. It will serve the purpose of keeping machinery out of the elements.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Life on the farm continued like I had never left when I was out to our children. I returned to see our summer fallow fields cultivated by a new, used, Cat Challenger, rocks being picked, wheat heading out, canola starting to bolt, and soybeans bushing.

At work, the fair exhibit had been well thought out by Britt, our new gal, Joan, was doing a great job with the catalog entry, and things were moving right along. I came back refreshed and ready to go. Lots of things to think about and get done. One of my upcoming projects is to work on the church exhibit, a second one is to get the photo exhibit stand completed. That will take some work but I have selected several photographs already so it is just a matter of getting things in order, doing a little research, perhaps some additional scanning, then printing and installing them. We may need some new boards for some of the panels, but foam core should work well.

I have enjoyed listening to iTunes Radio. One of the areas I always look at first is the Staff Favorites. This time it was the June 2009 selections where I found a the FM station Solo- SKY.fm, an all piano station with wonderful music. Very soothing and relaxing, great for the evening.

With the rain we have had lately the mosquitoes have multiplied. Ardmore rinsed the pickup off and washed the windows just before we were heading out to check fields and there must have been 200 mosquitoes surrounding the pickup. Just getting in was dangerous! We ended up swatting those buggers for about 2 miles. I only ended up with one bite. When we came back, I decided to go for a walk, before heading out the Off spray was used to saturate every area that could be bitten and then the clothing too. I escaped any bites on my two-mile hike which was a miracle.

Today I am thankful for family, total hip and knee replacement, a church where I can worship as I please, beautiful music, and my ability to see a robin slam into my bedroom window this morning, have its mate come and check on him, then watch him recover and fly away with the mate.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Museum UpdateThe fair was very successful. Britt prepared an excellent exhibit of school things which seemed to be under examination almost all the time. People loved being able to identify teachers in the 1930s photograph. Fun to see so many recognizing people from that time period.

This coming week we meet with the commissioners. We are as ready for that as we can be. I will have to highlight a few things to bring them up to date on what is upcoming in 2010.

We will be submitting a grant for a laptop for the Smart Board this coming week. I am hopeful that we will receive it. We did not receive the Hartz grant this year. Foundation dollars were not what they have been and so we were one of the grants that did not get funded, although the consortium did receive grant funding for our exhibit stands. That is a plus. We will begin research and looking for photos for this exhibit, which will be a church exhibit.

The Women in Military committee met under the leadership of Jean Vatnsdal. They seem to be doing a great job. This past week a former Badger resident, who was a colonel during the Vietnam era, brought in her information, as well as photos. She said she has several items she will donate. I look forward to designing an exhibit with her as one of the women.

Thursday I drove to a Legacy Amendment meeting in Fargo, which was quite informative. The Legacy Amendment will greatly benefit the history of our state in so many different ways. Knowing that there is a place where we can go for funding to better our organizations is going to be very beneficial.

Home & Family

It is quiet around here now that Brian has gone back to California. After spending three weeks in California it was a pleasant surprise to find out that he was coming home for his class reunion. He was here all of fair week and although we walked on the midway and everywhere else it was only on Friday evening that he saw any of his classmates. It was a quick trip, Ardmore picked him up in Fargo on Tuesday and he went home on Sunday.

Michelle has been busy during the summer. She started a sewing class and is teaching several beginning seamstresses how to do the basics. She has also had some time to do some art work. Here are a couple of examples of her work.

I requested a water color with humming birds in it. I love hummingbirds and over the years have collected plates, birds, switch plates and a variety of other items that have hummin birds on them. The last item I purchased was a lamp at an auction. I noticed the lamp but didn't realize it had hummingbirds on it so didn't bid. As the bidding began and ended on the lamps at the sale, the auctioneer determined that all lamps should go to anyone who wanted one for $25. Friends of mine purchased that lamp. As the auctioneer was handing it to them, to my surprise, he remarked that they were taking the humming bird lamp. I decided to walk over to them and look at it. It was love at first site. I told my friends that I collected hummingbirds and the husband said, "If you want it you can have it for what we paid for it." I was thrilled. When I went to turn it on at home, I couldn't find the switch and realized it was a touch lamp A touch lamp for my night stand, how could I be so fortunate!

A dear elderly friend of mine is have surgery for a tumor in her colon which was discovered during a colonoscopy this past Tuesday. She is 91, sharp as a tack and lives alone still. Pray for her.